


A Tangled Web

by Surly_Judge



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Brief Description of Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Kalex, Morally Questionable!Alex, Super!Alex, if you squint there's fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 04:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8042272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Surly_Judge/pseuds/Surly_Judge
Summary: The fallout of what happens after Alex is rescued from imprisonment in Cadmus labs. Her time there has left her changed on many levels, but her love for Kara remains solid even as it remains a secret. In an effort to distance herself from everyone to protect Kara, she winds up stumbling into the age old trappings that come with secrets, disguises and hidden super abilities.Eventual Kalex.





	A Tangled Web

Alex Danvers takes another long hard pull on her third bottle of beer. The liquid slides down her throat easily. Thanks to her altered physiology, she’s impervious to the usual burn of ice cold bubbles.

She’d already preloaded her body with a whole bottle of tequila before stepping into the bar. These days it takes over ten times her normal alcohol intake before she can feel the steady thrum of intoxication. Even then, it won’t last very long.

She scowls bitterly to herself. All she wants is to get drunk as hell and forget: forget the familiar faces etched in concern, the kind eyes shining with sympathy, and the constant barrage of ‘Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it, Alex?’

It’s been five months since her rescue from Cadmus labs, Since Supergirl had burst through the wall of Alex’s cell like a furious avenging angel.

Only when she’d been safely nestled in Kara’s arms - with Kara’s familiar scent enveloping her, and the sturdy thump of a Kryptonian heart beating against her ear - only then, had Alex actually believed that it was real. That Kara had come for her. That it was not just a delirious day-dream or the safe Kara-shaped space in her subconscious where she’d hidden from the endless torture.

It was actually over.

She shudders as she recalls the white-hot agony of strange chemicals being forced into her veins every hour. The daily submersions in a tank of a molten inky black liquid, her own anguished screams echoing throughout the metal enclosure as vicious streams of red electricity ripped through the darkness, searing her raw skin. Waking under burning bright lights to the tepid stickiness of a white pillow soaked scarlet with the blood streaming from her nose and ears.

Kara had whispered emotionally into her ear over and over, “I’ve got you, Alex. I’ve got you.” She’d never forget the anguish in her voice or the warm dampness on her neck that she’d known was from Kara’s tears.

Alex had wept then, too, for the first time since becoming a freak-show lab experiment almost a year before. She’d finally felt safe, and only Kara was allowed her tears.

Kara had killed two people that night. Yet another thing that heinous lab had stolen from Alex - her ability to protect the hero from having to resort to such extreme measures. There was, however, a guilty sense of satisfaction in knowing that it was the sick bastard who ran the facility and the brutal chief scientist who’d fallen at Supergirl’s hand. They were the ones stupid enough to stand between Kara and her rescue mission. It was some perverse kind of justice.

Alex had been changed forever by the suffering they had wrought upon her. And she was the only person alive who knew exactly what the experimentation had done to her. Her friends, colleagues, even Kara, they’d all assumed her refusal to talk about it was because of the trauma. They thought that she’d been tortured into using her bio-engineering knowledge to perform hideous experiments.

But she just couldn’t face them with the awful truth. That in reality, she was nothing more than one of the experiments.

She shakes her head against the thoughts and memories. Why is she thinking of this now? She needs way more alcohol.

She approaches the bar and orders another three bottles of beer and a triple whiskey chaser. The bartender eyes her suspiciously.

“Son, you’re knocking these drinks back awfully fast. I don’t want any trouble tonight.”

Alex stares at him indignantly for a beat before she remembers that she had taken on a male appearance in order to avoid attention from sleazy guys. It makes it is easier to drink in solitude. Fishing into her pocket, she pulls out her DEO ID, (technically she should have surrendered it this morning when she’d quit the agency, but it was a pretty useful gadget to hold onto). Its clever technology, designed with J’onn’s abilities in mind, had already replaced her image with that of her new male disguise. The faded leather sleeve now carried the imitation of a police detective badge. She holds it up.

“I’m here undercover,” she lies easily. “I’m not looking to start anything.”

The barman nods once, a proud smile tugging at his lips, as if he felt that her disclosure has somehow made him a part of a secret mission. Alex feels a sliver of guilt. He is clearly respectful of authority and she is playing him. Her current moral code is definitely tainted. A great way to begin her new covert existence. She tucks the badge back into the inside pocket of her leather jacket and waits while he sets up her drink order.

This is old hat for her, drinking her feelings. And today was definitely jam packed with feelings, the kind that needed liquid assistance.

Today she had said goodbye to her old life as Agent Danvers of the DEO. Tomorrow she would be reborn as a new Alex Danvers, one with a very worthy purpose. One who had wrestled control of her demons and the darkness within her and forged them into something meaningful.

She just needs this one transitional night to bridge the gap between past and future before her origin story concludes. She snorts to herself. _Origin story_. Nerd. Clearly she’d spent too much time around a certain Superhero fan.

There is a small, easily ignorable voice in her head saying that given her new sub-human status, drinking is probably a really, really bad idea.

But it’s just one night of drinking, right? What could happen?

She downs two of the beers in quick succession before knocking back the shot. Grabbing the third bottle of beer, she turns to head back to her table in the corner and is confronted by the epic, modern-day, Shakespearean-tale equivalent, of _exactly_ what could happen…

A pair of crystal blue eyes and a cute stuttered, “Can I…um…buy you a drink?”

_Oh, fuck._

Where had _she_ come from?

Standing shyly before her, blushing, is her adoptive sister. Alex’s eyes travel downward instinctively, and she almost swallows her tongue at the vision. Kara is dressed seductively, in a sexy little black dress that emphasises her curves in all the right places. Alex’s gaze continues to rove, and her sweaty hand grips the cool beer bottle tightly like a shield, one that could protect her from the sudden onslaught of inappropriate thoughts. The glass creaks. She licks her suddenly dry lips.

Kara is stunning.

And Alex is staring.

She feels the heat rising in her cheeks. Swallowing thickly, she offers Kara her most impressive cave-man impersonation: “Have…drink.” Then she pushes passed a smirking Lucy Lane and retreats to the solace of her corner table. Knowing full well that, despite her decline, her heartbeat has betrayed her interest to Kara’s enhanced hearing.

Her own hearing - while not quite to Kryptonian levels - is now very acute, so she hears Kara’s dreamy sigh.

“Way to take control, Kara. I told you my lucky dress would give you confidence. That was amazing.” Alex hears a definite shoulder pat. “But not that guy, okay?” Lucy says, her voice soft. Alex is momentarily offended at being rebuffed by Lucy. And she’s not the least bit ashamed of listening in to their private conversation. There’s the tainted moral code again.

She chances a look back at the two friends.

Kara is staring over at her.

Alex ducks her head and feigns concentrating on reading the ingredients listed on the label of her beer bottle.

“But he’s perfect. And did you hear that cute grunt? Maybe he was just embarrassed. Girls don’t usually ask guys if they want a drink. Oh, crap! What was I thinking?”

Alex doesn’t need to look up to know that Kara is still looking over at her. She can feel the stare. The thought of being the focus of those sweet baby blues causes Alex’s heartrate to jump up again.

“Stop checking him out,” Lucy demands.

“Why?”

“Didn’t you notice something really familiar about him?”

 _Uh oh._ Alex tenses, her mind whirring, Lucy couldn’t possibly know.

“Like what?”

“Kara, you can’t be serious right now.”

“What?”

“Uh…remember the episode of Friends where Rachel is seeing the guy called Russ… like Russ and Ross?”

“Hmmm…vaguely, why are we talking about Friends?”

“Because that guy you like is _literally_ a male version of Alex.”

Alex’s head snaps back up to stare at them. She catches the pink tint spreading over Kara’s cheeks, indicating that, yes, Kara had clearly considered this, too. “So?”

Alex smirks, despite her previous apprehension. She continues to watch them out of the corner of her eye.

“So, we talked about this. You’re supposed to be getting over your unrequited love, remember?”

Alex’s heightened hearing picks up the sound of her own heart in stereo as it full-on skips a beat.

“…since you won’t tell her how you feel…” Lucy continues, when Kara doesn’t respond.

Eventually Kara shrugs, a light scowl on her face. “Lucy, you know what she’s been through. She has enough to deal with without the horror of finding out her adoptive sister has a weirdo pervert crush on her,” she says, dejectedly.

“Come on, Kara. Anybody who knows you two knows it’s not like that. She’s not your _actual_ sister, and you guys were practically adults when you were adopted. You’re _not_ related. You’re a different species for god’s sake. If you’d just try to--”

“This isn’t helping.”

“Neither would it help to get it on with a guy that looks exactly like her. It would be like torturing yourself.”

“He even smells like her,” Kara admits.

“Are you sure you can’t talk to her? She might feel the same. You know, the way she looks at you sometimes, it’s like you’re the whole universe.”

Kara sighs, and the sound is like a punch to Alex’s gut.

“I can’t. I can’t even talk to her about regular stuff right now. She’s so guarded, about everything.”

The sadness in Kara’s voice stings Alex. She takes a huge gulp of beer, forcing it past the lump forming in her throat. She closes her eyes and focuses her resolve. Shutting Kara out is necessary, to protect her. So why does it feel like there are shards of glass in her chest?

She pulls out her cell phone and sends a quick text: _Are we all set for tomorrow?_

The reply comes a second later: _You betcha. :)_

_Great. I’ll be home late. You guys can order pizza if you like. There’s cash in the jar under the sink._

_Okay will do, see you tomorrow P._

She moves to put her phone away, but stops herself. Instead she taps out a quick message to Kara.

_Hey, I love you K. Let’s do TV night sometime this week. xxx_

Hitting send, she worries it might be a bad idea, but the smile that lights up Kara’s face a second later when she looks at her cell makes it worth it.

She drains her beer bottle and moves to go buy another.

She should probably go find another bar to drink in.

She doesn’t.

She just can’t bring herself to leave.

So she stays, sneaking looks at Kara and Lucy when she knows they’re deep in conversation. A couple of times she gets caught, and she delights at the coy look she receives from Kara in response to a cheeky wink, which Alex figures probably looks much the same on her guy face as it would on her actual face.

She brushes past Kara on her trips to the bar. The more drunk she gets, the bolder her light touches become. And Kara makes the cutest humming sound each time.

And so the night goes on, as does the silent communication between her and Kara, while Lucy tries solidly to divert Kara’s attention to other prospects.

One such prospect gets a little too aggressive when Lucy goes to the bathroom, leaving Kara alone. Alex’s stomach lurches when she sees him slide his hands around Kara’s waist and press his lips to her neck. The way she stiffens makes it clear that his touch is unwelcome, and while Supergirl has the actual strength to rebut such overt physical attention, gentle Kara Danvers is not so quick to act. She flinches awkwardly.

He sneers at her to ‘stop being a frigid bitch’.

And Alex Danvers sees red, and not just because she’s using her new alien powers to read the piece of shit’s mind.

She shoves her solid wood table several inches in her haste to stand. And then she’s striding over to them, her knuckles cracking loudly as her hands clench into fists.

Barely holding back her strength, she punches him square in the face. There’s a satisfying crack as the force knocks his head back. Alex can hear herself growling, a deep rumble like a wild animal. Her whole body is trembling with rage. His twisted thoughts about what he was going to do to Kara were still fresh in her mind.

The guy recovers quickly and comes back swinging with some skill, the ugly split of his lip dripping red down his chin. She lets him get a couple of hits in because she’s not quite so far gone that she can risk exposing her abilities, not tonight. The first blow hardly connects, but the second would have broken her jaw if she were merely human still. She drops to the ground feigning injury.

Kara gasps, looking very much like she’s slipped into shock.

The guy stands over Alex smirking. He thinks he’s victorious. Prick. And then she’s back on her feet and slamming into him. They grapple for dominance, Alex holding back, before she eventually puts an end to it by bringing a swift knee into his stomach. She uses the momentum to shove him backwards and cracks his jaw with a jab of her elbow for good measure.

Leaning over his dazed figure, she pulls out her badge, wishing she had a gun right now to make her point with extra intimidation. She flashes the detective shield at him quickly, then hauls him to his feet and literally drags him across the bar and throws him out onto the street.

“If I ever see you within five feet of her, or any woman for that matter, we can go for round two and that time...” She steps closer. “…I won’t stop until your heart does. Understand?” she says darkly.

She doesn’t wait for his response.

Heading back in to check on Kara, she shares a meaningful nod with the bartender.

“Sorry about that,” Alex says softly to Kara.

“No. Thank you,” Kara says, blushing. She fiddles with her hands the way she does when she’s nervous, and Alex can’t help but smile. “Nobody ever got into a bar brawl over me before…well…except my sister…” she rambles.

Alex snorts, immediately recalling the first time she’d visited Kara at college.

They’d been in the campus bar, along with the school football team. The QB had been a real douchey jerk, and she’d been a little (okay, a lot) drunk. Kara had looked so charming in a floral-patterned summer dress, with her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling, hanging on every single word Alex said. It’d been around that time that Alex had realised she was falling for Kara. QB had decided Kara should be his girlfriend, and he just kept pestering them, until Alex launched herself at him. Back then she wasn’t a trained fighter, and she got roughed up a little, but it’d totally been worth it for the way Kara had taken care of her cuts and scrapes afterwards, all gentle touches and soft hands.

“Oh, god. I didn’t mean…” Kara says, eye wide with panic, pulling Alex from her reverie. Kara holds out her hand. “Uh…I’m Kara.”

And because Alex Danvers is nothing if not cheesy under all her layers of darkness and altered DNA, she brings Kara’s hand to her lips in a gentle kiss. Kara’s expression glazes over just a little. Keeping hold on the hand, she tugs it lightly to move her closer. Kara leans forward slowly, blue eyes fixed upon Alex’s mouth. Alex dips her head, wetting her lips slightly with the tip of her tongue. The sounds of the bar fade away and all she can hear are two sturdy heartbeats thumping in sync. Kara’s warm breath tickles her cheek as she ducks in to--

“Kara!”

They both jump backwards as if they’d been electrocuted.

_Dammit, Lucy._

“Excuse us,” Lucy says, without even making eye contact. She drags Kara aside. “Kara we talked about this. No swooning,” she says, when they’re far enough away that she thinks Alex can’t hear.

“I wasn’t--”

“There was definite swooning. Don’t even try to deny it.”

“He kissed my hand,” Kara protests with a sheepish shrug.

Alex smirks to herself. She may have used insider information about the kind of things she knows Kara finds attractive. You gotta press your advantage if you wanna have game.

“Congratulations. You might have found the only person in this bar who’s a bigger dork than you are, but let’s focus here. Him being all Alexy aside, you almost kissed a guy whose name you don’t know, who gets drunk and starts bar fights.”

“Woah, Lucy. That creep you left me with nearly got thrown into space by Supergirl, if…um…Okay. You’re right. I don’t know his name. But if _he_ hadn’t shown up, that jerk would totally be orbiting the earth right now,” Kara hisses.

“Oh,” Lucy says.

“Besides this was your idea, remember? And I found a guy that I really like and now you’re… blocking first base!” Kara’s face flushes pink.

“Blocking first base?” Lucy snorts. “You said that because you didn’t want to say crotch blocking, didn’t you? You dork,” she says, affectionately. Her hands come up to squeeze Kara’s biceps as she looks her in the eye, and when she continues her voice is much softer. “It was tearing you apart, Kara. I actually wanted you to talk to her. This was plan B, remember? But if you’re sure about this…?”

“I am,” Kara says with conviction.

At some point during the exchange, Alex had realised that kissing Kara would have been a really stupid idea, and she can’t even blame the alcohol because she’s already metabolised most of it. Her moral code twists in a knot at the base of her stomach in its attempts to right itself.

She steps towards the friends.

“Uh, goodnight, ladies,” she says politely. She turns to leave, wanting to avoid being trapped in Kara’s piercing blue stare.

“Wait, please.” Alex takes a breath and turns at the request. “I didn’t get your name,” Kara says, glaring at Lucy, presumably for spoiling the moment.

“Xan,” Alex says.

“Zan? That’s a great name,” Kara says enthusiastically, before seeming to catch herself.

“Thank you. Kara’s a great name, too,” Alex teases.

Kara flushes.

“Stay for another drink, Zan?” Lucy asks, clearly looking to appease Kara.

“I…uh…I really should--” A shrill sound in her ear cuts off her words.

‘ _Pheonix, can you hear me, Pheonix?’_ She winches in pain, clutching her ear. “ _This is Watchtower_. _Repeat. This is Watchtower._ ” It’s her cool tech ear implant.

Lucy and Kara stare at her in alarm.

“Are you okay?” Kara says, stepping forward. “Did you get hurt in the fight? I never asked.”

“I’m fine. I just need to take this call,” Alex says pulling out her cell, ensuring her hand covers it for the most part in case either of them recognise it. “My Mom,” she explains weakly.

Bringing the cell up to her ear to open her mike and also fake a phone conversation, she moves away from Kara and Lucy.

 _‘Pheonix?’_ says the voice in her ear - Chloe Sullivan, AKA Watchtower.

“I hear you, jeez, what’s going on?”

_‘I could ask you the same question. I was just live testing the system to prep for tomorrow, and I saw that your beacon was active. You were lit up like the freakin’ Times Square Christmas tree for about three minutes. You’re supposed to be masking it.”_

“Oh, crap!”

_‘Yup. You know what that means?’_

“How far out?”

_“About—”_

Alex doesn’t hear the response. The sound of breaking glass and splintering wood tears into the room as a huge beastly alien bursts through the wall and into the bar. He looks very much like a surrealist’s interpretation of a human rhinoceros. In one hand, he carries a glowing green battle axe, and in the other, what looks like a purple, crystalline hand grenade.

_Fuck._

“I just can’t get a break tonight,” Alex mutters.

The alien hurls the purple object into the room. As it crashes to the ground, it explodes in a flash of blinding purple light. Alex feels a mild dullness in her body, and everything seems just a little bit heavier, like she’s been dipped in marshmallow.

The beast roars loudly. “I know you’re here. I brought this weapon especially for you. And the distortion emitter that I just activated will stop you from using your super speed to escape. **Reveal yourself** , or I start killing people.” Flecks of spittle flew from his mouth as he spoke, making Alex shudder.

_‘Looks like we’re going live a day early,’ Chloe says._

“Could you try not to sound so happy about that? I was enjoying a quiet drink,” Alex grumbles.

_‘Please. I was tracking your vitals ten minutes ago. Whatever you were doing, it was not quiet.’_

 “Wait, Supergirl can handle this thing, right?”

_‘Aww, come on, you don’t want to suit up?’_

“I just need to buy Kara some time to be able to slip away and change into Supergirl. Can you get any readings on the dampening field that was just activated?”

Her enhanced hearing picks up the nimble _tap tapping_ of keys across a keyboard.

The alien swings his axe impatiently.

_“Supergirl is there? Oh, cool. Does the sound inhibiter work? Can she hear us?”_

“Focus, Chloe.”

_“Oh, yeah. Alien threat. On it.”_

Alex glances back to Kara, who’s biting her lower lip nervously. Her blue eyes are shining eerily purple in the light of the strange crystal. Her fists are clenched tightly. Alex knows how torn she must be feeling. The axe is clearly made of Kryptonite, and Kara must think the alien is here for Supergirl. Lucy grips Kara’s arm firmly. If Kara reveals herself to a bar full of people, her life will change forever. Still, Alex knows she won’t allow innocent people to be hurt.

She needs to do something before Kara makes a move.

Alex is sure she can take this guy, but she’s just not quite ready to tip her hand and introduce her new alter ego to the world tonight. Not here, exposed like this, in front of Kara.

_“Okay, so the dampening field has a limited sphere of power. If you can get outside, you should be free of its effects. The axe is made of a fairly low-grade Kryptonite composite, so Supergirl should be able to take him out without that much trouble.”_

“Perfect. Standby, Watchtower. Pheonix out,” Alex says, trying it on for size. There is an excited squeak from her new associate. “Oh, and the inhibiter works. Supergirl didn’t hear either of us.” More squeaks.

Alex shakes her head slightly to get herself back in the game.

For the third time that evening she takes out her old DEO badge. She steps towards the alien and holds it up, projecting her best air of authority.

“How about we take this party outside?” she shouts. As she does, she senses Kara taking a step towards them.

_Not now, Kara. Just wait._

Ensuring that no-one can see her face - and thinking it’s actually a good thing the intruder had smashed through the windows behind him so she is not caught in the reflection- she stares him straight in his black, circular eyes. He snarls at her. Using her white-Martian-infused DNA, she makes her eyes glow red for a beat, clearly identifying herself to him.

He roars and lurches forward. She takes off at a sprint and almost makes it to the exit before the whistling sound of a flying object registers in her brain. Instinctively, she drops to the floor as the Kryptonite axe soars over her head and crashes through the window panel of the door. Standing, she turns to face the alien in disbelief. Seriously? Well that solves the Kryptonite issue. Dumbass. Her superiority is short lived, however, when a fist the size of a basketball slams into her side and crashes her though the door and out into the street.

“You…hit…like…a…human.” Alex, grunts through the pain as the beast advances on her, murder in his beady eyes. He snarls at the insult.

She can take a few more hits.

He kicks her solidly. Her leather jacket shields her back from being scraped as she slides across the pavement. She can regenerate all these injuries, sure, but a broken rib still hurts like a bitch.

He’s on her in moments, oddly nimble for a beast of his size. He grabs her then by the throat, holding her up like a rag doll. He squeezes, and she chokes. Black spots swim before her eyes. And as her vision gets darker, her hearing becomes more acute. She smirks when she hears the near-silent swish of a cape. The last thing she sees before she surrenders to unconsciousness is a red boot connecting powerfully with the side of his face.

 

To be continued…

**Author's Note:**

> So, for reasons that will become clear as the story progresses Alex will spend much of the time in disguise.
> 
> I know I'm a bad person for writing this fic and I'm probably on a one way street to one of the hell dimensions. Question is, will I be alone, or might some of my fellow Kalex shippers be joining me for this journey? Answer in comments... :P
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
